Written Answers. - Debt Relief.
Seán Crowe
Question:
302
Mr. Crowe
asked the
Minister for Foreign Affairs
the steps or measures the Government has taken to follow up the Taoiseach's positive statement at the World Summit in Johannesburg in September 2002 regarding the approach to total debt cancellation, particularly cancelling the debts of countries in the developing world.
[27128/02]
I refer the Deputy to the reply to recent questions on the issue of debt relief I gave to Deputies Costello and Mitchell on 17 December last. In July 2002 my colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy Tom Kitt, launched a new Ireland Aid – Department of Finance strategy in the issue of developing country debt. This comprehensive strategy sets out in detail the Government's approach to the problem and updates the principles on debt relief announced by the Government in 1998.
The debt relief strategy indicates, inter alia, that the Government believes total debt cancellation to be a politically acceptable objective and one that it would support. However, the strategy also emphasises that the funding of debt cancellation would have to come from additional overseas development assistance from donors.
The strategy raises a number of concerns about the operation of the heavily indebted poor countries – HIPC – initiative, such as the adequacy of the existing level of debt relief and the projections and assumptions used in the calculation of sustainable debt levels. The bank and the IMF have admitted that between eight and ten countries emerging from the HIPC process continue to have unsustainable debt levels. In September of last year, the Taoiseach reiterated our commitment in principle to debt cancellation in his address to the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg.
While in Washington last November, the Minister of State, Deputy Kitt, had the opportunity to discuss a wide range of development issues, including debt, with the World Bank. He also briefed Canada, the leader of our constituency at the Bretton Woods institutions, on our views on the debt issue as detailed in our debt strategy.
Last month, the vice-president for Europe of the World Bank, Mr. Jean Francois Rischard, visited Dublin and had a series of meetings with the Minister for Finance, the Minister of State, Deputy Kitt, and others. At his meeting with Mr. Rischard, the Minister of State laid particular emphasis on the importance we attach to our debt strategy including the issues of debt cancellation and debt sustainability.
Last week the president of the World Bank, Mr. James Wolfensohn, visited Dublin and had meetings with the Taoiseach and the Minister of State, Deputy Kitt. We again used the opportunity of the visit to promote our debt strategy and our concerns about the effectiveness of the HIPC initiative in reducing debt to sustainable levels.
My Department, in close co-ordination with the Department of Finance, will continue to promote our views on debt relief in all relevant international fora. In the coming months we will continue to follow closely developments in the HIPC process and participate actively in all relevant international meetings. Our debt strategy will guide us as we seek to ensure that the HIPC countries' efforts to achieve the millennium development goals are not inhibited by a continuing high level of debt and that a sustainable exit from the debt treadmill is secured.
